Zombies to prowl UW campus in multi-day game

Watch out for zombies at the University of Washington. They’re a little tricky to spot at first.

Sure, a herd of the bloodied undead might be a bit conspicuous on the average college campus.

But a kid with an orange bandana around his neck and a Nerf gun tucked away in his backpack? Kind of weird — of course. But a zombie?

Starting Monday, the UW will play host to the first round of “Humans vs. Zombie Tag,” a multi-day game already playing out at more than 40 colleges across the country.

The tag game has been known to last longer week. There are no time outs. No do-overs. And no blood or guts — just in case you’re squeamish.

Andy Fulton, a student overseeing the UW game, describes the game this way:

“Starting on Monday, students wearing orange bandanas (worn on the arm by humans and the head or neck to signify for zombies) and armed with Nerf guns will begin the game in earnest.

“The game will begin with one “zombie” who attempts to tag every other person playing the game, known as “humans”. Once a human is tagged, they become a zombie. Eventually, a small group of humans will attempt to evade legions of zombies. Each zombie, however, needs to tag a human every two days or it will “starve” and be removed from the game.

“The humans win if every zombie starves, the zombie win if every human is tagged and becomes a zombie.”

The game has exploded at other universities. USA Today wrote about it last year, noting this was all started by a group of students at Goucher College in Maryland. They were reportedly inspired by the video game Splinter Cell.

This is just the first of many Humans vs. Zombie Tag games planned at the UW this year. Organizers signed students up last quarter at tables in Red Square; about 200 are expected to play next week.

Fulton said he thinks there could be hundreds more students playing as the game draws more attention.

If you’re a UW student interested in playing in the next round, check out this Facebook page for more information.